The French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is a legendary figure. When people mention Napoleon, their first impression is that Napoleon is a dwarf. So Napoleon is really a dwarf. One theory about Napoleon is that Napoleon was five feet two inches tall, which is 1.58 meters tall. This

The French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is a legendary figure. When it comes to Napoleon people's first impression is that Napoleon is a dwarf, so Napoleon is really a dwarf.

Napoleon

One theory is that Napoleon was five feet two inches tall, which is 1.58 meters tall. This height is indeed very short. Is this statement true? When Napoleon was 14 years old, he studied at the Military Academy in Bresne, France. According to the records of the Military Academy in Bresne in 1783, Bonaparte, a 14-year-old boy who was studying at the Military Academy in Bresne at that time, was 4 feet 10 feet 10 feet tall. That is 163.8 centimeters. It can be said that Napoleon, who has not yet completed his development, is already taller than 1.58 meters, which makes Palmer and Zamoiski lose face. In addition, there are 26 other height data samples of Napoleon's military school classmates in the file. What is surprising is that only 9 of these 26 people were taller than Napoleon, and the other 17 were shorter than him. This shows that Napoleon was taller than him at that time. The height is still above average.

Napoleon crossed the Alps

Why is it said that Napoleon was 158 centimeters tall? In fact, it was because the British measurement system was different from that of France at that time. Napoleon's accurate height came from the measurement results of the autopsy after his death. The data was measured in the British and French measurement systems. According to records, Napoleon's height was 5 feet, 2 feet and 4 inches, which translates to 5 feet and 7 inches. In total, he was about 169-170 centimeters. The reason why there is such a big difference between the two data is that 1 inch is only equivalent to 2.54 centimeters, but 1 French inch is 2.707 centimeters. At that time, people mistakenly believed that Napoleon's height was based on the British measurement, which was five feet two inches, so they believed that Napoleon was His height is only 158 cm. The real situation is that Napoleon's height after death was 170 centimeters. Taking into account the shrinkage in height after death, Napoleon's height before death was actually about 172 centimeters.

Some people say that even if Napoleon was 172 centimeters tall, he was just average. But we have to consider the height of people at that time, rather than compare the height of people today. According to historical records, the average height of French men in the early 19th century was 165 centimeters. The French army also has more detailed records. In the archives of French army recruits from 1805 to 1812, 7011 people clearly recorded their height. According to the recorded data at that time, this The average height of the sample batch of recruits is 166.3 cm, the median height of is 166 cm, and the mode is 165 cm. It can be seen that the height of 1.65 or 1.66 meters is the most representative in the French army. In other words, the average height of the French army at that time was the same as or one centimeter higher than the average height of French men, so it is still credible that the average height of French men at that time was 165 centimeters. In other words, Napoleon's height was 7 centimeters higher than the average height of French men at the time, so Napoleon was definitely not a small man. On the contrary, Napoleon should be considered a tall man at the time. The average height of men in our country is now 177cm. Can you say that a man with a height of 177cm is short? This height is considered relatively tall no matter which region in our country.

Could it be that the average height of French people at that time was shorter than in Europe? Absolutely not, because records show that the average height of people in many European countries at that time was not as high as that of the French. Take Russia, France's archrival at the time, as an example. During the same period, the average height of newly recruited Russian soldiers was only 161 centimeters, which was nearly 5 centimeters shorter than the French recruits. This shows that the average height of the Russians at that time was not as good as the French. In other words, Napoleon was 11 centimeters taller than the average height of Russian soldiers.

So Napoleon was considered tall both in France and Europe, and he was definitely not short as people say today.